From Cotillion Classes to the Cathedral

When Stephanie Wharton was a fifth grader, she never imagined that the boy escorting her at The Racquet Club of Memphis’ cotillion class would escort her once again as her husband 13 years later.

According to Stephanie, she and her then-escort Paul Stephens “didn’t necessarily become good friends,” but the duo continued to encounter each other throughout middle school and high school. After high school the native Memphians discovered they were both headed to Ole Miss. As fate would have it, a close friendship developed in Oxford, and in their second semester of freshman year, Stephanie and Paul officially started dating.

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Stephens on their wedding day

Stephanie chose her wedding palette of burgundy, ivory, peach, gold and navy because she wanted something fall-like and not too “girly.”

Throughout their courtship, the pair enjoyed spending time at Stephanie’s parents’ ranch in Senatobia, Mississippi. On February 20, 2016, Paul took an unsuspecting Stephanie for a walk on the ranch. When they reached the lake, flowers, twinkle lights and candles set the scene for Paul to pop the question. Upon returning to the house the newly engaged couple found their families ready to celebrate with champagne and pizza. To further the celebration, Paul and Stephanie returned to the site of their first date, The Como Steakhouse in Como, Mississippi. Eight months later on October 22, the two exchanged vows in a Memphis-centric celebration.

She never expected to go with a strapless wedding dress but she fell in love with the fit and lace.

Stephanie’s mother surprised her by sewing a sapphire pendant into her dress to serve as her something blue — and borrowed and old! The pendant came from a ring Stephanie’s grandfather wore, a special way for her to include her deceased grandparents.

The first thing Stephanie did after the proposal was pick out the dresses for her dozen bridesmaids — floor length gowns in navy with varying necklines from Bella Bridesmaids.

Stephanie says that “walking back up the aisle after our first kiss as a married couple was the best feeling.” The couple rode in a party bus to the reception with their wedding party, who danced and drank champagne the entire route.

“We tried to put a little bit of Memphis in everything,” says Stephanie. Welcome bags for the out-of-towners included Elvis chocolate bars from Dinstuhl’s, Wolf River Popcorn, seasoning from Rendezvous, personalized koozies and a map of Memphis.

Prior to entering the reception, Paul surprised Stephanie in the Cadre’s bride-and-groom room with a bottle of wine she had brought back from her time spent studying abroad in Cape Town, South Africa.

Yet another nod to Memphis — the Stephens’ first dance was to Elvis Presley’s “Burning Love.”

The six-layer wedding cake from The Flour Garden was a mix of Italian cream cake, strawberry and traditional white with buttercream frosting.